Download a printable PDF of Leo DeMarchi's Policy Declaration.
~Policy Declaration
Leo DeMarchi - Tradesman
IND. Senate Candidate, 2007
Representing Queensland
Help put a Conscience back into the Australian Senate.
Vote below the line at the Federal election to be held this year, for the Senate candidate you think will help put a Conscience back into the Australian Senate. Above the line represents Party Political candidates who will always put their party first.
As an Independent Candidate, I have no political affiliations, toe no party line and will always put Queensland and Australia first. I believe all Governments should be held totally accountable for its actions.
My Declaration to Queensland and Australia in the forthcoming Federal election is to be your representative in the Australian Senate and to advance Australia fairly for all Australians, no matter what their colour, race or religion may be. If you live in this great nation we call home and respect the multicultural diversity which makes Australia so great and want to put a conscience back into the Australian Senate vote for the individual candidate who best represents your values. Take the time and Vote below the line numbering all the candidates in order of your preference.
My Policy Statement, my views and my Declaration to Queensland and Australia is presented to you for your consideration at the forthcoming Federal Election. It is my belief the only way to make the Party elected to run our great country more responsive to the every day ordinary person who vote, is to elect more every day ordinary people to the Senate, Independent candidates who are not affiliated with any Party. This is the only way to encourage the Senate, to debate more openly the Laws and Policy which the elected Party wish to pass in the Senate. Presently there is next to no discussion or debate in the upper house because the Party Political representatives do as their Party tells them.
Every vote in the Senate should be a conscience vote to ensure everything passed by the Senate is fair for all Australians. This can only occur if there are Independent Senators elected from every State in Australia, non affiliated Senators who will always vote with their conscience to make Australia a fairer, more caring place, for all who live and call our great country home. I have watched as the ethics in politics here in Australia has deteriorated to such an extent that we can no longer expect the truth when we as a Nation are asked to go to war. That is intolerable for every day ordinary, hard working Australians. We can and should change these present ethics which so dominate our lives in a world so devastated by conflict.
(1) Truth is Justice - “It is Your Right”
I believe that the truth should be the first priority of all governments and representatives who are elected by the people for the people, to represent the electorate truthfully and honestly in all aspects of their elected responsibilities.
No more Tampas, No more children over board, No more WMDs, No more going to War without the truth, No more caged detention centres run for profit. Spin-doctoring has become so prevalent in politics today that it has filtered down into almost every aspect of everyday life.
The only way to help prevent the spin-doctoring which the Australian public has been fed over the years is to elect Independent candidates to the Senate. Then may be the Australian Senate will debate what is important to everyday ordinary people who have elected their representatives expecting the truth in return. Help put a Conscience back into the Australian Senate. Elect a representative who will put Australia first and not their Party.
Party politics can run the country don’t expect a conscience from a party who controls the Senate. Australia deserves and has the right to expect their Senate to debate Legislation introduced, not to have debate shut down by a Party which thinks that it is in the best interest of our country for the Senate to just pass all legislation introduced by the government of the day.
Democracy is dependent upon open, honest debate in Parliament and the Senate. Party politics having control of our Senate is not conducive to an open, responsible, accountable, fair government.
(2) Fixed Four Year Terms in Government
As an Independent candidate I believe in four-year, fixed- term elections. All Governments should be elected on the same Saturday of the same month every four years. We as a nation can improve the Westminster System by removing the ability of Governments and Politicians to manipulate the calling of Elections. Usually when their Party believes it is the best time for them to win an election.
It is time we the Australian People elevated elections to a position which no Government or politician can manipulate to suit their party and its chances of winning an election. It will only happen if we demand it, we deserve it and it is our right to stop the current manipulation and contempt which exists today, within the Australian political system.
(3) Global Warming
Is the most important problem facing Australia and the World, at the beginning of the 21st century. As an Independent Senator, I will fight for Australia to be a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol to reduce the harmful effects of carbon emissions being generated at an ever increasing rate.
We as Australians should be leading the world with cost effective energy production. Solar energy should be one of the ways we as a nation invest in our future. Australian solar companies have moved offshore to other countries because they do not see Australia as a viable proposition to produce the technology or they do not receive the assistance which these other countries provide. These companies have moved to such countries as Spain, Germany, China, Japan and the USA.
Australia has more natural gas than we presently know what to do with. We import oil to run our vehicles, the Australian Government should be promoting the use of natural gas to a greater degree. Every car manufactured in Australia should be running on gas. This would not only reduce our dependence on imported oil, it would also reduce our current account deficit.
Australia is paying for oil we do not need to import, while we are exporting the natural gas which could so easily be used to reduce the cost of transport in this vast country of ours, giving our primary producers an advantage that would help them to export more produce to the world.
It is my belief that global warming is occurring much more rapidly and our world weather patterns are changing faster than Mother Nature can endure, and when nature is tipped out of balance the world economies and us will pay a terrible price. Australia we need to sign the Kyoto Protocol and join the rest of the world in the fight against Global Warming.
It has been stated by this Government recently that their only constructive response and solution to the changing weather patterns and Global Warming is going to be water management. Global Warming has the ability to permanently change the weather patterns which deliver the much needed rains to Australia, these now changing global weather patterns can alter our weather to such an extent that the El Nino events of the last 10 years may turn into, what scientists are calling a Mega El Nino event. If such an event was to occur Australia would be plunged into a drought with no water to manage.
We as a Nation have to do more to help Mother Nature from tipping the scales into changing weather patterns that will alter the only Planet we live on. We have a responsibility to the world and the future generations to start protecting the only planet we know. We are not going anywhere soon, this is our only Planet.
(4) Nuclear Power Plants
Why is the present Government talking about nuclear power, when there is not one safe way or place to store the nuclear waste which would be generated by these power plants, here in Australia.
We as a Nation should never allow nuclear energy to be used as an option to reduce Global Warming. As an Independent Senate candidate I think we should spend the Billions of dollars it would cost to build these nuclear power plants on at least one solar power station. We should be the last country in this world to build a nuclear power plant. The effects of global warming which is already with us will make this country one big solar cell. Come on Australia do not let Spin-doctoring decide the future we leave our children. Say No to Nuclear Power Plants.
(5) Implementation of an Australian Bill Of Rights
An Australian Bill Of Rights for you and I should be on the agenda and opened for discussion to ensure that our individuality and our personal freedoms are never denied from us or our children.
An Australia Bill Of Rights will encourage a Fair, Prosperous, Just society, for all Law abiding Australians. Terrorism is a vile contagious phenomena which has to be stoped. We as Australians should be protected by a Bill of Rights so no Government legislation is able to chip away at our personal freedoms in the fight against terrorism.
Freedom of information was introduced to protect us and our personal information and to help keep Governments honest. FOI laws are already being manipulated by Governments to deny us the ability to access the required information to keep Governments honest. Control of information is a very powerful tool which can be used to prevent the truth from being discovered. This is censorship of the worst kind, which can be used by Governments to protect their own hide. FOI Laws were introduced with the intention to prevent corruption in the government sector. These Laws are not there to be used against the ordinary citizens of Australia.
I have personally discovered such information which was denied my wife and I at a time when we were going through a period in our lives when this information was very important to my wife’s health. Firstly my wife’s personal Medical information was passed onto a Doctor who did not have permission or the right to have this information in his possession. When we became aware of this invasion of my wife’s personal Medical Records we tried to use the FOI Laws to establish how this personal information was forwarded onto this Doctor. We were denied access to the information which would have proved this Doctor did have my wife’s personal Medical history. This caused my wife’s health to deteriorate. My wife died alone in Cairns, not knowing what I now know to be the truth.
If, I am elected to the Australian Senate I will fight for the introduction of an Australian Bill of Rights, to ensure no other Australian ever endures what we suffered.
On the 7th February 2007 the present Government announced that a so called Smart Card is going to be introduced in 2008. This Smart Card will be implemented to help save millions of dollars; apparently. All this Government has to do to save $200 million dollars in one year, is to stop spending our taxes on self promotion and advertising.
This Smart Card will be a very serious invasion of our fundamental right to privacy. No government or bureaucracy, have the right to abuse our personal private information, which occurred to my wife and I.
They say this Smart Card will help prevent fraud. The present government has more than enough investigative powers to stop fraud, they do not require a Smart Card to stop crime.
My wife and I suffered due to private, personal medical records being accessed and distributed by people who had absolutely no right to do so and this all occurred right here in Queensland. If this can happen with medical records I would hate to see what could happen with the implementation of a Smart Card.
Say No to a Smart Card, help put a Conscience back into the Australian Senate, Vote for an Independent Senate candidate at this years Federal Election. My name is Leo DeMarchi, I am a Tradesman and I will be an Independent candidate at the Federal election to be held this year, 2007.
(6) Australian Infrastructure
Presently the Australian Government have $13 Billion dollars in surplus, which we have all contributed to. An excess of public revenue over expenditure which should be utilised to enhance public services and infrastructure. Australian Governments have an obligation to us, the Australian public to invest our hard earned Taxes on public services and infrastructure which we are entitled to and deserve.
It is time our Governments not only managed our economy, but it also time they provided the public services and infrastructure continuously throughout the term of Government.
Not to ignore and allow our public services and infrastructure, to deteriorate between elections, only to drag out our Surplus at election time and then tell us how much of our surplus they are going to spend. It is the Governments responsibility to ensure they spend our surplus throughout their term in Government not only at election time. Than may be they can go to an election and tell us what they have achieved.
I commend governments in achieving a surplus, presently the amount and the size of the surplus and when they choose to spend it is seen by most Australians as a war chest for the government of the day to be used as a re-election slush fund. Responsible governments would utilise these funds throughout their term in office to provide the electorate with public services and infrastructure.
It is my belief that future Australian governments should look into borrowing from the billions of dollars currently in Australian Super Funds, paying the market interest rate on the bowerings. This would benefit all Australians, keeping the profits generated by this in Australia. Borrowing from the Super Funds to invest in the Infrastructure which Australia will always require, will ensure the retirement of Australians and the future viability of the ongoing Infrastructure requirements of our large continent.
(7) Health - a Public Service
Health in Australia is an ongoing political football between Canberra and the States. Every person in Queensland now knows what can happen when a government takes its eye off one of the main responsibilities of government. Providing public health services should be a priority of government in a society which presently has a surplus collected from taxes.
A surplus manufactured by not providing adequate public services is not a surplus which Australia can afford, when there are people on waiting lists throughout Australia. People who need health services are now on lists, because governments choose not to provide the adequate funds required for our hospitals.
We as Australians not only pay taxes every week the government also collects a Medicare Levy, a tax which I thought was introduced for the benefit of our health services. We not only pay this levy, there are people in Australia who are penalised because they choose not to be in a private health fund, they are taxed an extra surcharge because they choose as individuals, for what ever reason not to be in a private health fund.
I believe this penalty against ordinary Australians for not being in a private health fund should be abolished within the term of the next government. If elected as an Independent Senator for the state of Queensland I will be advocating for the elimination of this unfair penalty against Australians who have done nothing but choose what they believe, is right for them and their family.
This present Government has stipulated their ideology is to privatise Medibank Private. Sell it off to the highest bidder, now that they have coerced and penalised most Australians into private health funds. This will only achieve a short term financial gain for the present government which will also lead to less government services being provided to our public health system.
It is my belief that Medibank Private should remain in government control so all the profits can be channelled back into the public health system providing a quality of health services which future Australians will inherit from our generation. It is time governments run our public sector assets to benefit all Australian shareholders, ploughing the profits back into the Australian public services. Health being only one of our public services in need of more funding.
The present Governments ideology to privatise our public assets is not the right thing to do if we want to advance Australia fairly, for all Australians.
(8) Water – Infrastructure
I am a concerned Australian, when the present government wants to take control of the Murry Darling River System.
The Federal Government has been in government for 10 years now, and has achieved absolutely nothing to enhance this dying river system which is the main artery for inland Australia and the nation.
For years scientists, environmentalists and farmers have been telling this government how important this ecosystem is to our natural heritage and the economic sustainability of irrigation. To no avail until recently, when this government realised that global warming and drought was on the political map, have they attempted to be seen to be doing something about it.
Australians expect and deserve a responsible government to listen to the scientists, environmentalists and the people on the land the farmers, when they speak out about the natural landscape they live and work with. They all tried to notify the government to the problems which were on the way.
The government response now, is to spend $10 Billion dollars in the next 10 years, that’s one billion dollars per year. Last year this government spent $200 million dollars on self promotion and advertising, so you can understand my concern about the emphasis with which this government is now placing on the Murry Darling River System.
We as a Nation should be harvesting at least 50% of storm water off every roof in our major cities to provide ourselves the city dwellers, with sufficient water to use in our recycling purification infrastructure system to be able to replenish our dams at all times before we recycle sewage water and use it as drinking water. Surely it would be far more efficient and cheaper then purifying sewage.
Industry should not be using valuable clean drinking water they should be using recycled sewage water. We need to be wise, not only do we need to protect our water ways for the production of food we have to change the way we think about the collection and storage of our water. Relying on the old ways to collect and store our water, waiting for rain to fall on the catchments to fill our dams is no longer a reliable manner to ensure there will be enough water to sustain the cities most Australians live in.
The world is changing and we have to adapt to the environment as it changes. We need to build infrastructure to utilise the natural rainfall which does fall. Excessive flood water in northern Queensland can be and should be channelled to the beginning of the Murry Darling River System in times of drought. We as a nation should be smart enough to harvest 30% to 50% of flood water when and where it occurs to recycle it into our dams and natural river systems to help the natural artery of inland Australia sustain our lives. This may be considered as an outrageous, unconventional option, but I believe the risk of an ongoing drought, warrants just such a proposal, be considered for the future prosperity of our Nation.
This unconventional plan can only be considered and implemented if three things occur. Firstly- the Government of the day have to realise that global warming is with us for the foreseeable future. Secondly-Australia as a Nation has to commit some of our $13 billion surplus to build the required infrastructure. Thirdly-this plan will only ever work if there is Rainfall in different parts of our continent, as occurs presently. If this does not occur then Australia as we know it will undergo a change in weather patterns on a global scale.
Also as an Independent Senate candidate I will always be against the privatisation of Australia’s Natural water resources, Australia beware of any government which may offer the spin-doctoring of a national water management scheme. Such a scheme can also be used to Privatise our water.
Some South American countries sold their water resources at a time when they were struggling financially, the privatisation of their water to private companies did absolutely nothing to enhance the wealth of their individual lives.
Australian Water must never be Sold off to the highest bidder, if I am elected to the Australian Senate, I will never vote for or allow our water to be sold off and privatised.
(9) Taxation
Australian taxation has changed in the last 10 years, the government introduced the GST under the pretext that excise tax would be eliminated, and that it would be fair for all Australians.
The taxation system in Australia needs to be refined so a family on a single income can afford to put their children through school, put a roof over their head, cloth them, take their kids to the doctor when they are sick. Presently due to excessive tax being collected from these struggling families they are finding it difficult to provide the necessities for their children. Families, earning less than $40,000 per year should not be paying anymore then 25% of their income in tax.
Most low income families are living on borrowed time, living on credit and if the Australian government do not implement something soon to help these struggling families, then we as a nation are failing to enhance the prosperity of the low paid families which are also entitled to prosper. At a time when our economy is able to sustain lowering taxes for those in our society that need assistance, now is the time to do it, when there is $13 Billion in surplus collected from taxes.
It is my belief that most fair minded Australians would encourage the Government of the day to help those Australian families on low wages with a tax cut. It can and should be implemented within the term of our next Government.
As an Independent candidate for the Australian Senate, if elected I will encourage our Government to implement a fair socially acceptable taxation system for all Australians.
(10) Australian Security
Since 9-11 Australia and the world have changed and the Government have introduced laws which they hope will protect us from terrorism. The world is suffering from terrorism because a few people out there are fanatics and they want to change society into a dictatorial do as your told system where the individual have no rights. Obviously this can not be allowed to eventuate because all regimes which rule by the power of force usually eliminate good people who oppose them. History has shown when such regimes have gained the power and control a country, the only way to restore basic human rights is to overthrow the illegitimate government.
We need to disclose that terrorism by an act of violence will not be permitted to go unpunished here in Australia.
Capital punishment in the case of an act of terrorism perpetrated here in Australia should be an option for the courts to consider and the appropriate legislation should be introduced within the term of the next government.
Australian Governments elected to run our great country, are elected in good faith because the majority of the electorate choose to elect a certain party. This in itself does not mean everything a government wants to legislate is necessarily the right thing to do or right for the majority of the electorate.
The Australian Senate and State Senators are very important and constituted to ensure that no government is able to abuse their responsibility to us the electorate. The Senate is there to protect Democracy and not to be used by political parties as their rubber stamp to pass all legislation.
To ensure this rubber stamp mentality does not occur I believe that Independent Senators can prevent an abuse of power by elected governments. This is only one reason why I have decided to contest the next Federal Election as an Independent Senate candidate.
Another reason is this country needs an Australian Bill of Rights to protect honest hard working Australians from an abuse of the bureaucratic manipulation of the very Laws regarding Freedom of Information, which were introduced to protect our privacy. My wife and I suffered from one such bureaucratic invasion of our privacy at a time when my wife’s health could least afford such an invasion of her personal Medical Records.
As stated previously here in my presentation to Queensland, my wife died alone not knowing the Truth about the bureaucratic manipulation of the very Laws implemented to protect not only her privacy but the privacy of all Australians.
This manifestly, immoral betrayal of my wife’s right to privacy and the collection and distribution of her Medical Records by bureaucrats should be stopped immediately so no other Australian ever suffers the way my wife was made to suffer by these faceless bureaucrats.
My wife never knew the names of these faceless bureaucrats as I now do and how information was withheld from us and our lawyers at the time. This information was not only withheld from us, bureaucrats actually lied to our Lawyer regarding our request about my wife’s Medical Records. It has been six and a half years since my wife’s death and I now know the Truth.
The love my wife and I shared is the first reason why I decided to enter the political arena, when I became aware about the abuse of power which bureaucrats hold in the palm of their hands was the instant in time when I decided to fight for the Truth in the political arena. This instant in time was when I read a letter of reply from the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney General denying me the right to identify my wife.
My wife had been found dead in Cairns, the Queensland Police had been called, the Coroner was notified, my wife’s body was released by the Coroner to a person I did not know and had never met, her body was Cremated one month before I even knew that my wife had been found dead.
It had been nine months from the time of my wife’s death, nine long months of trying to identify my wife. I tried through the Queensland Police Force, I tried through the Queensland Coroners Court, I tried through the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney General. I tried to speak with the Queensland Attorney General, he simply refused to see or speak with me. This same Attorney General not only refused to listen to my concerns, he then went onto submit a paper to the Queensland Law Reform Commission, in June 2004.
He submitted an Information Paper (WP No 58) titled
A Review of the Law in Relation to the Final Disposal of a Dead Body
He submitted a paper to change the Law regarding the disposal of a dead body and this politician, the Attorney General of Queensland refused to see or speak with me about what the State of Queensland and what Queensland Law allowed to occur when my wife was found dead and I was not notified.
Upon receiving the letter denying me, my wife’s husband the ability and the right to identify my wife I decided to contest my first election. I decided to contest and run as an Independent Candidate against the sitting member of parliament in my electorate of Everton. The member for parliament at the time just happened to be the then Attorney General of Queensland. I was astounded by what did happen and how a politician simply ignored a member of his electorate wanting to speak with him about an issue in a department and a Ministry which he was in charge of and responsible for.
Fortunately I was informed about this proposed Law Reform by a radio station, if it had not been for the social responsibility of the individual concerned, I never of known about the Law Reform proposal which had been submitted. I immediately set about formulating my submission to the Queensland Law Reform Commission concerning the issues in the Information Paper (WP No 58).
Within this Information Paper it actually states at chapter 6.5 “The commission has been informed that disputes regarding final disposal of a dead body are not common and that, when they do occur, they are generally resolved between the parties.”
My reply to this one statement in my submission, which I have intrusted with the Queensland Law Reform Commission was “In the statement 6.5 the considerable distress caused by disputes pales into insignificance for a person who has never been informed by the Authorities as to the death of his wife. I can understand how the commission has been informed that disputes are uncommon. If the lawful Next of Kin does not know about a persons death there will never be disputes regarding the Final Disposal of a dead body.”
I submitted and intrusted my twelve page document to the Queensland Law Reform Commission in September 2004. To this day I have no idea as to what has happened or is going to happen in regard to the proposed Review of the Law in Relation to the Final Disposal of a Dead Body. The last letter I received from the Queensland Law Reform Commission is dated October 2004, thanking me for my submission.
I pray to God that no other person ever endures what I have experienced since the day I accidentally became aware of my wife’s death. It is a day I will never forget, it is the day my life changed for ever. Now in memory of my wife I am dedicated to letting Queensland and Australia know how the lives of ordinary hard working people can be altered by events that are manipulated by bureaucrats which can affect ordinary people so devastatingly.
My wife was a dedicated, hard working, caring, kind hearted registered Nurse who had worked in remote communities and the Queensland public hospital system. These bureaucrats systematically destroyed a very good person. This is why I have decided to run as an Independent candidate for the Senate at the election to be held this year. I truly believe Australia deserves a lot more ordinary people elected to Parliament and the Senate to instil a reality check for the entire political system.
I ask all who believe in the concept of the Truth being paramount to the political system here in Queensland who will be voting for your Senate candidates to please consider this my Policy, my view of how we the ordinary people of Queensland can make a difference in the way politicians treat us the ordinary hard working backbone of Australia. Every person can and do make a difference, if you would like to change the direction of politics to advance Australia fairly, for all law abiding Australians vote for me, Leo DeMarchi to be one of your Queensland Senate representatives in Canberra at the forthcoming Senate election this year.
Spread the word to all your family, your friends, every person you know, to visit my web page so as many people out there are aware that I will be a proud Queenslander if I can be elected to represent our interests in Canberra. Feel free to contact me via my web page email or my fax ( 07-33541962 ) or by mobile ( 0407627269 ) if you agree with my policy my views and would like to help me get elected please contact me. I am a tradesman and I will be maintaining my job to pay for my grass roots election campaign. So if your community would like me to visit please contact me. Unfortunately I will only be able to travel throughout Queensland on weekends, I may be able to organise some leave if my employer is not snowed under with work.
If elected I will visit as many remote areas, towns, cities, anywhere in Queensland the electorate want their views heard, so all Queenslanders will have their voice in Canberra. I will not be tied down with or by Party politics or restricted to any one area of Queensland. It will be a huge responsibility one I look forward to if elected to the Senate as an Independent Senator representing Queensland.
Help put a Conscience back into the Australian Senate and help advance Australia fairly, vote below the line on the Senate ballot paper at the election and number all the candidates in order of your preference. Every person can and do make a difference, your vote is very important to Australia.
For more information about the history of my short political life and more on why, continue forward on my web page and remember do not hesitate to contact me. I am an ordinary person just like you. Truth is Justice.
